East Haven explosion at vacant school injures one

EAST HAVEN -- An explosion outside of a former East Haven elementary school Monday afternoon seriously injured a seasonal employee.

Just after 1 p.m., police were called to the former DC Moore Elementary School, which has been closed for a couple of years. A 29-year-old male suffered serious injuries to both hands and his abdomen as a result of the explosion, police believe it was caused by some sort of firework.

East Haven Mayor, Joseph Maturo said the injured man is a seasonal employee, who was working in the summer help program and was outside the school when the explosion occurred.

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“That doesn’t really make sense at all because the school, nobody has been here for two years,” said Samantha Berrios of East Haven.

“I was up in my office and I just heard like an explosion or like a gunshot,” said Janice Langan, who lives across the street from the former school. “It’s very quiet around here. We never hear anything.”

“I was working in my home office and all the sudden I heard a huge boom and I didn’t know what was going on” said another neighborhood resident, Josh Garcia, who said he saw people working at the school.”

Olivia Dymarcik, who used to attend DC Moore and lives across the street, said, “I have heard fireworks before a lot around here but it sounded worse than a firework.”

The victim was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The incident is being investigated by the East Haven Fire Marshal’s office, with the assistance of the state fire marshal’s office, in conjunction with the East Haven Police Detectives.